Performing Arts

Explores the unique journey of the long-running British sitcom, detailing its creation, cast changes, and enduring legacy through critical analysis and behind-the-scenes insights.Red Dwarf is virtually unique among British sitcoms. It began in 1988 and was still releasing new episodes in 2020, making it...

"when I admire a film they say to me yes, it's very pretty but it's not cinema so I asked myself what it was" Phrases presents the spoken language from six films by Jean-Luc Godard: Germany Nine Zero, The Kids Play Russian, JLG /...

In 1938, China City opened near downtown Los Angeles. Featuring a recreation of the House of Wang set from MGM's The Good Earth, this new Chinatown employed many of the same Chinese Americans who performed as background extras in the 1937 film. Chinatown and...

The third and final volume of Ken Hollings' personal reflections on Trash Aesthetics. In Paradise, Hollings tells the story of three kings who squandered everything they had in a grandiose spectacle of waste. King Ludwig II of Bavaria, "King of Rock 'n' Roll" Elvis...

The boiling point of human blood is approximately 100.5 degrees Celsius (212.9 degrees Fahrenheit). Flesh itself does not 'melt' per say but it can be vaporised, dried out, and eventually turned to ash. So, if organic material literally cannot melt, why does it present...

Nina Mae McKinney (1912-1967) became Hollywood's first Black leading lady when she made her remarkable debut in MGM's Hallelujah in 1929. The multi-talented actor, singer, and dancer was also one of the first Black actors whom white and Black movie audiences considered beautiful. Sadly,...

Christian religious imagery and symbolism has a long history in American baseball cinema, from The Busher (1919) to Angels in the Outfield(1994) and present-day movies. This book examines The Natural, Field of Dreams, Bull Durham and other films, exploring the frequency of Christian imagery...

David Addison and Maddie Hayes are back. After years of being lost in legal troubles, the 1980s classic screwball detective series returned to the culture when HULU started streaming the series that starred Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis. Moonlighting podcasters Grace Chivell and Shawna...

The #MeToo movement has heightened awareness about the prevalence of sexual violence across professional, public, and private spheres. Since the movement began, many individuals have bravely stepped forward to share their experiences within media industries that historically protected predators while silencing survivors. Television and...

Although few of his plays exist in full today, the fourth-century BCE Greek dramatist Menander was known far and wide throughout antiquity. He was one of the first to locate his dramas in the common household, rather than the mythic world of gods and...

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER * USA TODAY BESTSELLER "This funny, insightful, and deliciously dishy memoir" (Town & Country) from the director of Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai, Legends of the Fall, and Glory, creator of thirtysomething, and executive...

Historical Turns reassesses Weimar cinema in light of the "crisis of historicism" widely diagnosed by German philosophers in the early twentieth century. Through bold new analyses of five legendary works of German silent cinema--The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Destiny, Rhythm 21, The Holy Mountain,...

Grindhouse Resurrection is a publication dedicated to keeping the memory of old B movies alive. We boldly go where no other publication has gone before. Talking about these movies in which they were originally seen. Sticky floors, smoke-filled mezzanines, dangerous clientele and some really...

A complex and at times controversial film-maker whose career spanned the second half of the twentieth century, Federico Fellini (1920-1993) remains central to the Italian cultural imagery and the object of ongoing debates and critical scrutiny at home and abroad. Images from his films...

Author Caren Schnur Neile offers a whole new way to explore Florida. Dexter, Key Largo, The Yearling--all famous works of popular culture created by masters in their fields. What's more, all three take place in Florida. This plunge into Florida-based TV, movies and fiction...

A new collection looking at the Films of Bruce Lee. Text in English and Japanese with many rare photos. In each issue, we delve behind the scenes taking a look at what made Bruce become a worldwide hit, his ability to manifest his future,...

A master of subverting tropes with surgical precision, Elaine May forged a career in 1970s Hollywood with films like The Heartbreak Kid and Mikey and Nicky. Elizabeth Alsop explores the director's non-conformist and uncompromising vision while looking at May's films against trends in classic...

The book is intended to become a useful reference for theatre people who need "China knowledge". Its central questions are: how is traditional Chinese theatre ("Chinese opera", i.e. xiqu) embedded in contemporary Chinese society? What identities are created through theatre? And, most importantly: how...

During the 1950s and early 1960s, school air-raid drills, bomb shelters, and unnerving civil defense films served as constant reminders of the looming threat of nuclear war. Throughout America, a widespread civil defense effort used town meetings, public school educational programs, and the mass...

A timely examination of the use of emerging technologies in the arts in recent decades. This book explores the notion of embodied experience from the first wave of virtual reality through the current use of mixed, augmented, and extended realities. It highlights the necessity...